A Lancasterian Society was organized in the United States in the early
1800s to support the Monitorial System of education developed by Joseph
Lancaster (1778-1838), supported in England by the Royal Lancasterian Society.
For details on this method, see The Lancasterian
Monitorial System of Education. However, Lancasterian schools
encountered opposition and a decline in support after Lancaster's death. Its
opponents charged that it failed to indoctrinate children in their parents'
religions, that it encouraged discontent among the working class, and that more
advanced students could not instruct as well as the growing number of persons
seeking teaching jobs. Despite this opposition and the dissolution of the main
Lancasterian societies, schools using the method persist to this day in many
parts of the world and continue to turn out better educated citizens than most
publicly funded schools are able to do.

On August 24, 2001, the Lancasterian Society was resurrected in Texas.
See its Articles of Incorporation. During the months
and years ahead it will seek to build support for the Lancasterian system,
adapt it to modern situations, and found and operate a network of Lancasterian
schools wherever local support for them can be sustained.